Start Allgemein Guitar & Bass Special Vol.528 with TORUS

Guitar & Bass Special Vol.528 with TORUS

Pic Credit Steve Gullick

This article series is about the tools of popular guitarists or bassists.. What are their favorite guitars or basses and how is it related to them? This time with Alfie Glass (guitar) & Harry Quinn (bass) from the band TORUS

Who am I interviewing?

Your hear speaking to Alfie Glass, Guitar player & Singer from the band Torus

When you start guitar playing and do you remember your first guitar?

To be honest I can’t remember a time that I wasn’t playing guitar or some kind of music, I think I was about 8 or 9 when I got my first electric guitar which was a Squire mini Strat and played that for years and went on the form my first proper band ’Skinny Lizard’ with that guitar. I grew up in a very musical house so I was playing around with music and singing ‘Who Do You Love’ by Bo Diddley at the top of my lungs. My first instrument was acutely the violin but got board with the lessons after a couple years and moved onto the guitar pretty fast as well as the drums (which I had plenty of practice before hand with the pots and pans until my parents let me play the drum kit in the shed and got hell from next door but guitar will diffidently always be my first love.

What are your influences and which guitar players are your faves?

Well growing up I was mainly and as a young child I was mainly into the Classic rock greats. Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy, Motörhead, you name it. I was all over it. I had a bit of a Rock obsession, praying to the gods of rock on the way to school and stuff like that. AC/DC’s ‘Let There Be Rock’ was the first album my parents bought be, I was never the same haha. So yeah Angus Young was a big one for me. Not as well known but I was very into Ted Nugent back in the 70’s, I just loved his raw power and stage presence. all those guitar gods & singers had a massive impact on me. I also had other sounds such as traditional folk music coming from my mum so all that such has definitely subconsciously had an impacting on me as a musician.

How many guitars do you own and what are your favourite models?

I just Recently made a guitar rack out of wood and a couple nails and that holds 8, I owned around 7 guitars and only a couple of them were bought haha. I’d have to say my Epiphone SG and my Epiphone ES-339 would have to be my favourite two guitars out of the bunch, previously to the White SG, I was playing a black Epiphone SG pro, mostly playing around with drop D and standard tuning, and then I discovered the first queens of the Stone Age album and noticed how that whole album was in C standard, so I tried that out and had loads of fun with it. I ended up buying the white SG for predominantly this new low tuned way of playing as it was such a different tuning and too demanding for going between C standard and Standard tuning all the time. The ES-339 was my first proper serious guitar, I love the feel of this bluesy guitar and got me through sky arts program ‘guitar star’ which I had no idea I would be on, and get to be mentored by the likes of Tony Iommi, Tony Visconti & meet so many more cool musicians.

Pic: David Jackson

What do you think makes the perfect guitar and amp?

I love a valve amp a lot more than a digital amp. I’m much more of an Angus Young plug in and play sort of guitarist. So old school Marshall amps are amazing but I actually play a Vox AC 30 at the moment, I tried one at Reeperbahn festival in Germany, and just thought it looked really cool. So I managed to find one for myself, it’s great because it’s a clean amp and is perfect for playing pedals through, it has a super crisp clear sound, and is VERY LOUD.

How do you feel about the question of modeler or tube amp?

I’ve only used a Marshall code 50, which is an amp with pre-set sound is on and I was not a fan, I don’t think I’ve ever used an app modeller before though, not even sure what that is haha, but I’m definitely a fan of real amps with valves in them. That’s the way for me.

Which guitars and amps were used on the new album or for recordings?

We used Original vintage 1967 Marshall ‘Black Flag’ 100 Watt Super Lead Head that was recommended to us by our producer ‘Tom Mitchener’ in his studio ‘Broadfeild Studios’ . It’s actually quite a rare amp. The only guitar I used on the Album was my white epiphone SG along with our producers ‘Martin D15’ acoustic guitar we used in a few songs to add some textures in there.

Pic: Mollie Keenor

When you only can choose one guitar, which one will you take?

White SG 100%. That is the Torus Guitar at the moment

Who am I interviewing?

Hey! This is Harry Quinn, I play bass and sing backing vocals in Torus.

When you start bass playing and do you remember your first bass?

I didn’t actually really play much bass until I joined Torus, so it wasn’t until around 2019 that I really started playing on a regular basis. I was primarily a guitarist or drummer before then which I started teaching myself around the age of 13. My first bass was a pretty crusty, beginner level Ibanez that I stole off my sister after she decided she was done with trying to learn Sir Duke hahaha, but I quite quickly decided to get a Squire Classic Vibe P-Bass which is a great bass considering the price tag.

What are your influences and which bass players are your favs?

I suppose because of me coming late into playing bass it’s hard for me to say who my favourite bass player is. I grew up on a lot of electronic music so I’ve always loved loud and heavy bass sounds and that is something I bring into Torus, especially live. As there is only three of us up on stage, I like to try and make sure that I’m contributing to the sound of the band just as much as a guitar or drums would, so I love to have super fuzzed out bass tones that really cut through and add to the guitar tones.

Pic: Meagan Walton

How many basses do you own and what are your favorite models?

Three I guess. The Ibanez I spoke about earlier is currently with my girlfriends sister as she is wanting to learn bass, my P-Bass is in desperate need of some TLC. It barely works and I keep putting off getting someone to look at it (don’t ask me why haha). However my one true love is the bass I have been touring with for the last year or so. It’s a black and white Fender Jaguar bass and I just honestly got it because of the way it looks, however it also sounds great.

What do you think makes the perfect bass and amp?

Honestly just something that looks cool and makes you feel cool and inspired when playing it. It helps if it plays well and doesn’t feel like you are grating your hand against sandpaper when moving up and down the neck, but I think everyone secretly knows that if it looks cool then you’re fine haha! To be honest, I haven’t experimented all that much with different bass amps. I have been using an Orange OB-300 for the last couple years which does the trick. I like how simple the controls and settings are. I’ve never been a fan of equipment with too many options etc. especially when touring I just want to know roughly where I like my bass, mids and treble knobs to be set and then be sorted. Also, the little signs that Orange use are pretty snazzy so that’s something that drew me to them haha!

Which basses and amps were used on the new album or for recordings?

I actually ended up not using my Jaguar on any of the new album. Thomas Mitchener who produced our record is a great glass player and had a selection of cool basses that we experimented with in the studio. For the majority of the album I actually ended up using his US Fender Precision Bass produced in the 90’s, which has been all around the world from when he played and toured with Frank Carter and The Rattlesnakes. It had a certain punch and smooth low-end that my Jaguar didn’t have. I also experimented using a super cool old Guild B-301 on a few of the tracks which had a really lush, unique and rich tone. In terms of amps, we opted (in general) for a very upfront, consistent DI sound and for this I went straight into a Tech 21 Sansamp which sounded great and since then, because of me loving the tone so much, I have added a Sansamp into my live rig on my pedalboard. It is great being able to go to any venue and knowing you will pretty much get the exact same tone you have dialled in every night. It’s a game changer for bass tone live and I can’t recommend them enough.

When you only can choose one bass, which one will you take?

My Fender Jaguar. 100%.